Fortnite Battle Royale Bans "Thousands" of Players

Tackling cheaters is "the highest priority" across Epic Games.

By
Matt Davidson

Fortnite's Battle Royale mode has seen "thousands" of players banned for cheating, and Epic Games has no hesitation in banning more, with Nathan Mooney, Community Co-Ordinator, confirming that battling cheats in Fortnite is "the highest priority" across the company.

As reported by VG24/7, Epic acknowledges that the problem of cheaters in both the Battle Royale and across its games in general is an "ongoing" problem that they're committed to tackling head-on, saying that they're targeting both "the cheaters themselves and the cheat providers".

Epic is not going into details about the exact measures it's taking so as not to tip anyone off, but makes assurances that tools are being rolled out to combat cheaters and that this will continue, with Mooney emphasising that Epic has "no plans to stop" when it comes to tackling cheating.

One method Mooney did detail is the use of progression rewards as a discouragement tactic; this will see players earning "as they play", creating both a fun and rewarding progression system but also discouraging players from simply cheating their progression and eventually getting banned; although he acknowledges that there will still be "persistent trolls", but reaffirms Epic's commitment to tackling them.

We recently reported that Fortnite has passed the 7 million player milestone, so the "thousands" of cheaters Mooney identifies is still a fairly small proportion of the overall player base. Cheaters aren't the only worry on Fortnite's horizon; Bluehole - the developer behind PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds - recently said that it is "considering action" over Fortnite's Battle Royale mode, which it feels is too similar to its own game.

Matt Davidson is a freelance writer for IGN who buttons his cardigan a little tighter at the mere mention of the word "cheat". Give him a follow on Twitter, if you like.